ISIS and Public Relations

"ISIS has arguably distinguished itself from all of the other rebel groups in its outreach to Syrian populations by employing social media with remarkable effectiveness. Indeed, the extent of ISIS’s political and media outreach aimed at garnering local support is unprecedented in the history of global jihadist movements"  Pg. 4


"In a bid to ensure that their political rule lasts, ISIS’s da’wah efforts have particularly targeted children. The group has also sought to recruit children during Muslim religious festivals by offering them gifts. The most egregious case of this took place in ad-Dana, where ISIS distributed Western- brand toys, including Spiderman and the Teletubbies, on Eid al-Fitr."  Pg. 6

     As I read through Tamimi's article on ISIS I found myself to be both amazed and appalled at the success ISIS was finding in its recruiting attempt. As noted in the text ISIS has found unprecedented success with recruitment, especially through social media which I've pointed out in a few links below. They also launched a lot of community outreach efforts, offering things like education or discounted bread. I'm almost perplexed as to how a group that could participate in videotaped beheadings could also participate in community outreach. While I certainly understand that they must in order to gain recruits and allies, the concept it difficult for me to wrap my head around. It seems that there is much more going on in ISIS than we've been privy to, whether that's as result of withheld information or general ignorance is currently unknown. It's similarly difficult for me to see how in light of their actions they are still able to rely on social and local media to recruit and also to spread propaganda. These efforts have resulted in some 80 different nations now being represented in ISIS members, in 2nd article listed below. Though the reliance on social media is becoming less obvious since the social media channels themselves have begun to crackdown. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, especially the social media aspect, because of the implications it may have for not only future jihadist groups but also how we defend against them.


Other Related Articles
* http://www.cbsnews.com/news/isis-uses-social-media-to-recruit-western-allies/ [On Westerners fighting along side ISIS]
*http://www.ibtimes.com/isis-recruitment-reaches-unprecedented-scale-15000-foreign-jihadists-joining-militant-1716684 [More recent, on 80+ countries who now have citizens represented in ISIS]
*http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/isis-attempting-to-show-softer-gentler-side-in-new-video-media-scholar-1.2077141 [On the shift from beheadings to news reporting]